Loaded For Bear
by Phoenix Audubon
Summary: It's almost like asking if trespassers know they're trespassing...


**Loaded For Bear**

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Author's Foreword:

What you are about to read contains scenes that some readers may find somewhat shocking.  That is to say, there is nothing violent, lewd, or otherwise graphic.  Merely, the fact that a certain object is introduced into the "Care Bears universe" might offend some enthusiasts.

That said, I am not ashamed of what I have written, and I find it necessary for my planned story line.  Moreover, this might be a lot of hype for no reason at all.  However, I do feel obligated to protect my audience from possible sensitive scenarios.

If you choose to read this work, you now do so at your own risk.

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_"If a little knowledge is dangerous, _

_where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger?"_

_--Thomas Henry Huxley_

One night, Wish Bear, Gentle Heart Lamb, Share Bear, and Harmony Bear decided to take a walk through Care-a-Lot.  It was a pleasant, mild night, with a clear, starry sky, and a soft breeze drifting across the cloudy land.  The four girls were chatting amongst themselves, when…

            "Hey, do you hear something?" asked Gentle Heart suddenly, cupping a hand behind one of her ears.  The others stopped, and quietly looked around for any kind of sound.

"I don't hear anything," replied Share.

"Shhh!  There, over there," the lamb whispered, pointing towards the Rainbow River.  The girls cautiously began to walk towards the sound Gentle Heart heard, and soon all of them could hear it.

"Yes, yes, there is some kind of…music playing," Harmony Bear remarked as she strained to listen.

"What could be making music at this time of night?" asked Gentle Heart.

As they came upon the river, they discovered the source of the music—standing in the river, with his back to the group, was Defender Bear.  HaHStepped in the waters up to his ankles and the end of his cloak, the four girls watched him silently as he continued his "concert".  First of all, as Defender gently swayed to his own music, the group could see his instrument of choice was a wooden recorder.  The tune he played was slow, with many long tones at first, but soon trills and several melodic runs lifted the mood of the melody a bit.  However, there was more to this "show", for as the bear played, the water surrounding Defender reacted to the music.  The four girls watched in awe as spouts gushed out from the river in all the colors of the rainbow around the white bear, rising and falling to the melody as if were a fountain.  And, in one melodic phrase, one stream of water twisted itself into the air, making turns, loops, and spirals like some giant silly straw.  Finally, Defender held one pure, long note on his recorder, causing the water to form a coil around him, climbing higher and higher up into the air around him.  As all of the girls watched, Gentle Heart felt a sneeze coming on.  Try as she might, the lamb couldn't hold back.  It was a short "Ah-choo!" but it was enough to break the concentration of the sorcerous soloist.  Defender Bear abruptly ended his performance, which caused the water all around to stop ascending.  It hung in the air for a split second before freefalling back down towards the river, drenching the white bear in the process.

The four ran towards the river to help, but Defender quickly waved them off and laughed a bit.  "No, no, it's okay.  It's only water, after all," he replied humbly.  "So, it seems I had an audience listening in on me."

"We're sorry if we intruded on you," Harmony Bear began to apologize.

"Oh, that's all right," the white bear replied with a big smile.  "It was starting to get a bit lonely, and I'm glad someone else enjoyed the music as well."  His face quickly changes to a more nervous look.  "You…_did_ like it, didn't you?"

"Of course we did, Phoenix," Wish Bear assured him.  "It was lovely!  But, why in Care-a-Lot are you playing a recorder standing in the river at this time of night?"

Defender Bear took off his gloves and held them by the fingers as water poured out of them.  He began to unhook the clasp on his cloak to wring it out.  "Well, it's…kind of hard to explain.  You see, I was on my laptop doing research on the Internet about, well, stuff in general.  As I came upon the subject of music, I listened to all the different kind of instruments there were.  When I heard the sound from a recorder, I decided that I wanted to play one myself.  So, I conjured up my own recorder, and I went to find a place where no one else was around so I could practice, and…well, you know the rest."

"Wait a minute.  Did you say you _made_ that recorder?  As in, out of thin air?" inquired Share Bear.

"Yes, that's right," Defender replied.

Share raised an eyebrow skeptically.  "Is there are anything you **can't** do?"

"Um, well, when it comes to making stuff, there's a lot of strain in making something out of nothing.  I can only make small stuff, like this recorder.  Oh, and I can't make anything living, either."

"What do you mean?" Harmony wondered.

"Let's put it this way: If someone were to step on a caterpillar and squish it, I would be able to use my magic to bring it back to life all healed and such.  However, I can't make an entirely new worm out of nothing.  I tried once, but nothing came about.  Then again, I don't see a reason I'd need to do that.

"But, while we're on the subject," he turned his gaze to Wish Bear, "can I talk to you about something, in private?"

"All right," she said, not sure what this could be about.  Gentle Heart Lamb and Harmony Bear this would be a cue for them to leave, so they said their goodbyes and started back towards town.  Share Bear stopped next to Wish, looked at Defender Bear from the corner of her eye, and said in a hushed tone, "I honestly don't know what you see in him."  Wish only smiled and shrugged her arms, as if to say, _Don't ask me.  It's not my fault._  Once the three were a distance away, Wish walked up to her companion.  "What is it, Phoenix?"

With a glum look on his face, he said to her, "You might want to sit down for this."  So they both sat on the cloudy ground on the shore of the river.

"Listen, Wish," Defender started, "there's something I feel I have to tell you.  Do you recall when we were at No Heart's castle, when I was…well, dead…and you were at my side?"

"Yes, I remember," said Wish.

"Remember how I told you that I had heard what you said there?  The truth is I know more than that."

"What does that mean?"

"Even though I was…deceased…at that point, I still know what happened there.  It's not something I can fully explain."  He paused briefly.  "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that…it wasn't you."

Wish Bear understood very little of what Defender was talking about.  "What do you mean, 'It wasn't me'?"

            Defender sighed before he pressed on.  "When your tear fell on my hand, and I started to float, and I started to glow and…your tear—it didn't do that.  You see, after going over that scene in my head several times, I got the impression that I actually revived myself there, and that it was just coincidence that it happened right after you started to cry.  I guess it must be one of the abilities the phoenix I was raised by bestowed on me.  Of course, I can't say with 100 percent confidence—I haven't tried to, you know, duplicate the incident, I swear.

            "I hope that I haven't hurt you, Wish Bear.  I just," Defender paused again, "I just thought that you should know all the facts, so that you wouldn't set yourself up to fall, or anything."

            When he had finished his confession, Defender Bear looked into his friend's eyes for any sign of understanding.  However, Wish Bear's face was completely blank.  She didn't know what to say after hearing this.  There was only the sound of the moving waters of the Rainbow River in the background, until Wish finally had something to say.

            "So, what you're saying is that you can be, um…killed, but you'll just come back to life, good as new?"

            "Well, yes and no and I don't know.  If you remember, when I came back to life at the castle, I wasn't exactly 'good as new'.  Maybe it's something that will improve with practice…not that I enjoy death mind you; this is all still mostly speculation.  Besides, I don't even know if this will always happen and…" When he realized he sounded like he was babbling, Phoenix cut himself off, and took a second to regroup his thoughts before he finished.  "I just felt that you had to know about this, so that you wouldn't be setting yourself up for failure.  I'd hate to think that you would try to wish someone back to life, only to be disappointed."

Wish Bear simply stared straight back at Phoenix.  This wasn't the response he had expected.  "Oh, dear," the white bear started to apologize, "I knew this was going to disappoint you.  I'm really sorry, but I…"

"Shhhhh," Wish tried to quiet her friend.  She could see just how much Phoenix was troubled over this.  "It's okay.  I really appreciate your being honest with me, but you don't have to work your nerves up so much."

"You mean, you're not mad not at me?"

"Of course not, Phoenix.  To be honest, I was a little shocked myself when all that happened.  I don't think I've ever wished for something as sizeable as that, much less it actually coming true.  We all have our limits," Wish stopped to chuckle, "even you, Phoenix."

"No argument there," he replied, much calmer now.

"Well, it's starting to get very late.  We should both head back," said Wish.

"You're right.  I think I've practiced long enough, anyway.  Lead the way, my dear."

They both stood up from the river bank, and they gave each other a quick kiss on the cheek.  Wish Bear walked back towards the city, while Defender Bear stayed back for a second to collect his still-soggy items before running to catch up.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Summer was a time for vacation, both on the earth and above.  Most children were having a good time, and so the number of caring missions dropped during this period.  This left Defender Bear with lots of free time, which he spent most of next to his laptop, learning about all there was about the earth and the humans.  This often started in the early mornings and spilled into the late of the evening, so he often had a cup of coffee beside him. (Brewed by a percolator Bright Heart happened to have fixed and left on one of his shelves.)  It was one of those nights that Bedtime Bear noticed on his watch that Defender's house was the only one with all its lights on.  He decided to knock and make sure everything was all right.

"Oh, hi, Bedtime Bear," Defender answered the door.

"Hiya, Defender.  How come you're still up at this hour?"

"I've still got a lot of research to do."

"What kind of research?" Bedtime asked.

"Everything," the white bear explained.  "There's so much to this world that I've still got to learn.  I've seen much with the laptop Bright Heart gave me, but I want to know more."

"Well, all right, but be careful about what you find, especially when it comes to the Internet.  And, don't stay up too late.  You promise?"

"I promise," Phoenix replied, raising one hand and putting the other across his heart.  "Care Bear's Honor."  Satisfied, Bedtime returned to his patrol, and Phoenix decided he'd wrap up his session at that point and get to sleep.

A few days later, Phoenix made a discovery.  While skimming through an online encyclopedia one night, there was an entry that intrigued him.  It was all about some kind of device that the white bear had never seen before.  It varied in appearance, from the small and simple, to the large and intricate.  Either way, they seemed to be very effective.  Phoenix decided that he'd like to test one himself.  Of all the different variations, he simply picked the shiniest of the lot.  He went to consult his large spell book, and summoned his magical abilities.  With a few graceful gestures and some sparkles of light, the bear had created a duplicate of the image on his laptop screen.  Pleased with the results, Phoenix decided to show his latest possession to his friend, Bedtime.  However, as he got up and walked to the door, item in hand, he began to feel strange.  For some reason, a part of him didn't want to reveal what he had.  He looked at the device in his hand.  As he rotated it, the light reflected off the shiny exterior.  It didn't seem any different to him than from a few seconds ago.  He decided to leave it on his dresser, but as he was about to open the door, the funny feeling returned.  He looked back, and for some reason, was compelled to conceal the mechanism.  He couldn't explain where this urge came from, but he decided to act on it.  With his magic, he created a shiny, metallic box with a felt-lined interior.  He gingerly placed his new item inside, and believed it to be the end of that.  But, looking at the box on the dresser, the "urge" remained.  Going one step further, Phoenix took down the full-length mirror off the wall, and traced a rectangle on the wall with his finger, which immediately began to glow blue, and then that small section of the wall disappeared, revealing a small alcove.  Phoenix slid the box into the alcove, and waved his hand over it, causing the space to disappear back into the wall.  He replaced the mirror in its proper place, and felt content with the results.  The urge seemed to have subsided, so Phoenix was ready to leave.  He was trying to come up with a clever way of breaking the news to Bedtime, but he found himself unable to find the words to describe it.  Phoenix could see the item in his mind, but when he tried forming a description, he didn't want to reveal anything.

"What is going on?" Phoenix was getting very frustrated by this inner dichotomy.  "What's wrong with me?  I want to show this to my friends, and yet, I _don't_ want to.  Why am I having this contradiction?  I don't understand this; I don't understand this at all."  He decided to get some sleep and try and figure this all out in the morning.

The next day, Phoenix Audubon decided he wanted to test out the capabilities of his new acquisition.  He took it from its container, but just before he opened the front door, the apprehensiveness returned again.  But the bear was determined to step outside, so he tucked it behind his back in the waist of his shorts, underneath his cloak.  He finally stepped outside to Care-a-Lot, but he walked in a very tense and stiff manner towards the Hall of Hearts.

"Where are you going, Defender Bear?"

"Aaaaah!"  Defender jumped at the sudden question from behind him.  He quickly spun around and blurted out, "It's not mine!  I swear!"  It took a second to realize that he was looking at the twins, Hugs and Tugs.

"Oh…hey, you two," Defender quickly tried to sound innocent.  "You kind of startled me from behind, you know."

"We're sorry," said Tugs.  "We just wanted to ask you where you were going."

"Me?  Oh, I was just going over to the Hall of Hearts for…for some training, and, um, stuff…"

"Are you okay, Defender?" asked Tugs.

"Yeah, you seem a little nervous," added his sister.

"Nervous?  Me?  Nah!  I'm not nervous at all.  I'm just…in a hurry, that's all."

Tugs said, "Well, okay.  Do you think you can show us some more of your magic?"

"Um, I really got to get going.  Maybe later.  Bye!"  Defender took a few steps backward before turning around and walking very quickly to the Hall.  He made his way to the broom closet and closed the door behind him.  In the darkness, Phoenix let out a huge sigh.  "Boy, that was close," he said to himself.  "Wait a second, why am I all worked up about this?  I wasn't lying when I said I was coming here."  As he leaned against the wall, what he had brought with him began to press against his spine uncomfortably.  "Oh, right—_that," Phoenix muttered.  "Well, I'm here, so…"  With his magic, a door appeared on the wall of the closet, and he opened it to reveal his personal gymnasium.  At the end of the room, there was a wall of stacked bundles of hay with sheets of bull's-eyes draped over them.  Phoenix had earlier read on how the shiny device worked, and he gathered that it ejected a projectile from its front.  So the bear stood on the other side of the room, took aim at the haystacks, and activated the device._

BANG!

The bear hadn't expected neither the strength of the discharge nor the force of the recoil, as he almost fell on his back.  Whatever it was that discharged from the instrument, it had moved so fast that Phoenix never saw it.  All he had seen was the purple streak of light that followed the projectile—a side effect from being mystically "forged". Phoenix hurried over to the target, and saw that it had pierced through the target and the haystack, and had actually struck the wall behind the target.  He looked down to find on the floor a tiny smashed lump of metal. He presumed it was what had been propelled from the device.

_Gosh, for such a small thing, it sure does pack a punch_, Phoenix thought to himself as he looked at the shiny device in his hand, which was now emitting a wisp of smoke from one end.

"Defender Bear!  Are you in here?"

Phoenix hadn't expected anyone to come in during his "test", so he quickly stashed the item behind his back again, and slowly walked out from behind the haystack.

He saw Wish Bear running towards him.  "Oh, there you are," she said, "I'm glad I finally found you.  What have you been doing in here?"

"Me?  Um, well, I…"

"Actually, we haven't got time for that.  We've got a report of some trouble down on Earth, and we've both been assigned to go down there and help stop the problem.  Come on!"  Wish grabbed Defender's wrist, and yanked him as she headed outside.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"What?  You're serious?" said Defender Bear as Wish Bear informed him of the situation.

"That's right.  According to Cheer Bear at the control room, there have been reports of huge ice creatures roaming around and freezing everything in their path.  People are getting terrified and hiding indoors."

"I would think it's because of this heat," Defender grumbled as he wiped sweat from his forehead.  "But, how are ice creatures possible, much less able to exist in this kind of weather?"

"If it's got to do with ice, it's more than likely Professor Coldheart is behind it all.  We'll find out when we get to Veritas City, where they were last spotted."

"Oh, right, the mad scientist," Defender thought for a moment.  "That makes sense."  He looked around the cloud car he was riding in.  Riding alongside them was Tenderheart Bear and Love-a-Lot Bear. (Who also were another couple within the Family, as Defender had learned.)  The white bear started to squirm in his seat, which caught the attention of Wish as she was driving.  "Something wrong?" she asked.  "Oh, no.  It's just this heat again," he quickly answered.  "Don't worry, we'll be at the city shortly," she said.

Defender nodded.  Actually, it was the device jabbing into his back again, but he lied as soon as he opened his mouth, almost unconsciously.  He was about to ponder why he did, but the cloud car was just about to touch down on the ground.

Wish Bear landed the cloud car in a parking lot while Tenderheart and Love-a-Lot continued flying towards the other side of the city.  Everything seemed to be normal, until…

"EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

The two Care Bears heard several screams from down the street.  People were running across the intersection.  "Well, I'd say there's a good place to start looking," Defender Bear wisecracked.  They both ran down towards the scene, and to their shock, they found a park that was partially frozen.  Everything from trees, playground equipment, and a section of a lake was covered in ice.  And, sure enough, Defender and Wish saw 3 ice creatures, each about 10 feet tall and appeared to have been roughly carved out of huge blocks of ice, as most of their bodies' "curves" ended in jagged corners.  And, they each had a pair brightly glowing red eyes.  ("You know, I'm starting to see something in common when it comes to bad guys," Defender quipped to Wish.)  And, every time they opened their mouths, a blue beam shot out, and anything that touched it was instantly covered in ice.

"This is horrible!" cried Wish Bear.

"You're right.  We've got to get these creatures out of here, before somebody gets hurt," said Defender Bear.  He began to rub his hands together, and a fire sprung up between them.  He used his magic to create a basketball-sized sphere of fire, and tossed it at one of the ice creatures. He was hoping that would have melted it altogether.  Unfortunately, when it struck the creature in the back, only a small chunk of ice melted away, but it revealed several flashing LEDs and different-colored wires within the ice.  And a few seconds later, ice began to regenerate in the bare area, until it looked undamaged like before.  The creature then turned around and fixed its gaze on the two bears, and began to stomp its way towards them, with its two cohorts quickly following suit.

"Was that part of your plan?" Wish Bear asked.

"No," Defender replied.  "But I've got a new plan—run!"  The two quickly took off in the opposite direction, running just in front of the creatures' ice beams.  They turned a corner to avoid one of the beams (which ended up putting a lamppost on ice) which lead into an alley.  They kept on running until a very high chain-link fence blocked the way.  With only a garbage bin nearby, and the ice creatures at the entrance of the alley, Wish Bear and Defender Bear were starting to run out of options.

"I say we prepare to stare," Wish offered.  Defender nodded, and they held each other's hand, and firmed up their stance.  Defender counted down, "Three!  Two!  One!"

"Care Bears…Stare!" they both shouted.  Their tummy symbols lit up and their stares collided with the three "ice men", and it seemed to slow them down somewhat, and melted the top halves of them, displaying hideous robotic skeletons underneath.  The two bears tried their best to keep the stares up, but they became too exhausted.  And, when they stopped, the ice again reformed over the frames to perfect condition.

"This looks bad, Defender," said Wish.

"I've got one more thing left to try.  Cover for me, Wish Bear," Defender quickly shouted, as he began to climb up the fence.  She wasn't sure what he had in mind, but there wasn't much time left for options.  She began to stare at the ice robots to keep their attention as Phoenix leapt from the fence to the top of the garbage bin.

What happened next seemed to unfold in slow motion for Wish Bear.  She watched Phoenix jump onto one of the ice creatures, wrapping his arms around its neck and climbing onto its back.  It began to shake itself furiously, but the white bear managed to hang on.  Wish Bear watched him reach behind his back, and pulled out something shiny.  It reflected a lot of sunlight that Wish couldn't tell what it was.  Phoenix put it right up against the ice creature's back, and…

BANG!

When she heard that, Wish couldn't help but stop staring.  She stared (using her eyes) with a gape as a purple streak broke through the creature's chest.  It stopped moving, emitted some strange noises, and it red eyes dimmed before it fell forward onto the ground.  Before it fell, Phoenix jumped onto another of the ice monster's backs, and did the same thing.

BANG!

And again, he jumped onto the last one and repeated.

BANG!

This time, Phoenix held onto the monster as it fell.  They landed right at Wish Bear's feet.  Phoenix was breathing heavily, with his head still down.  When he finally looked up, he was hoping that Wish Bear would be happy, but when he looked at her face, there was only a look of fear.  

For in Phoenix Audubon's right hand, pointed right at the ice monster's back, was a silver, long-barreled handgun.

Wish Bear couldn't believe her eyes.  She was at a loss for words at the sight.  And this made Phoenix extremely uncomfortable.

"Where…_where did you get that?" Wish Bear stammered to ask._

"Um…I…," Phoenix started to say, but at that moment, they heard the sound of a cloud car coming closer.

"Quick!  Hide it before they see it!"  Defender Bear was still in a slight stupor, but he did as he was told.  The two quickly turned around as Tenderheart and Love-a-Lot came by.

"Hey, guys!" said Tenderheart.  "Looks like you two took care of things here."

"We found Professor Coldheart on the other side of the city," Love-a-Lot explained, "and he managed to keep us at bay.  But, when he tried to summon his ice creatures back to him and none of them answered, he gave up at that point and retreated."

"The ice will melt, so things should get back to normal here," said Tenderheart.  "We'll see you two back up in Care-a-Lot!" And they drove off, leaving Wish and Defender alone.  They both stared at each other for a moment.

"We're…going to have to have a little talk, my friend," said Wish.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The ride back was uncomfortable for Defender Bear, and not just from the gun in his back.  He told Wish Bear everything he had learned about the object in question.  She said she would talk to True Heart and Noble Heart about all this.  He decided to wait in his room in the Hall of Hearts. When seconds became minutes, he began to pace across the floor.  _This probably isn't going to go well_, Defender thought to himself.  _All I wanted to do was use something to help.  Maybe this was why I was feeling so nervous all those other times…oh, I hope I haven't caused too much trouble…_

Defender heard the door swing open, and Wish Bear, True Heart Bear, and Noble Heart Horse all walked into the gymnasium.

"I…um, that is…I'm sorry." Defender finally said.

"Defender Bear," True Heart said, "you're not in trouble."

"I'm…I'm not?"

"Wish Bear told us everything," Noble Heart said.  He went on to talk about how guns have been known to cause trouble and sometimes, unnecessary suffering.  "We can see that you didn't know all about these things, and you didn't mean to cause such a stir."

"So, um…what happens now?"

True Heart and Noble Heart looked at each other.  "That we leave up to you, Defender Bear," said True Heart.  "As you now realize, we Care Bears do not have any use for such a thing as a gun, and we're still, well, upset that you have one in your possession."

"But," added Noble Heart, "we think you're responsible enough that you can make a decision about what you do with that.  Whatever happens, we will do our best to trust your judgment."

"I see," was all Defender could say.

"Try not to let this keep you down, dear," True Heart consoled him.  "We all make mistakes.  And once they happen, all we can do is set things right and learn from them."

"Oh, I've learned plenty now.  More than anything my laptop could tell me. And, I thank you both for your understanding."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"What will you do, Phoenix?" asked Wish Bear once she and Defender walked to the door of his house.

"I don't know," he replied as he unlocked the door.  "But, whatever happens, you'll trust me, won't you, Wish?"

"Yes, I will," she said with a slightly weak smile.  Phoenix touched the side of her face and smiled back before retreating inside.  He threw off his cloak and sighed heavily.  He then pulled out the gun from his waist, and stared at it for a moment.

_I could just destroy this, and it would all be over_, he thought to himself.  _But, I can't bring myself to do it.  Why is this so hard?  I guess this wasn't such a good idea after all.  He lightly banged his head against the wall as if to get to his mind to think.  He stopped and looked at his mirror for a moment, and then proceeded to bring it off the wall.  He revealed the alcove within the wall, opened the box, deposited the firearm inside, locked it, and slid the box back into the wall.  The niche disappeared, and Phoenix put back the mirror._

He put his hands on his hips.  "Well, that's the best I can do for now," he said out loud.  "With any luck, it won't see the light of day ever again…"

THE END

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Author's Notes:

Project Date:  May 2, 2003—July 21, 2003

(Updated July 27, 2003)

_The Care Bears and Care Bears Cousins are the property of American Greetings Corp, Nelvana Ltd, and Those Characters From Cleveland, Inc.  No relationship with any of the aforementioned companies is implied by this work._

_The story is the original idea of the author and is not intended to represent any real event.  Furthermore, the uses of the characters are not meant to represent any real person, explicitly or implied.  Any use of the story, in whole or in part, must not be completed without the prior consent of the author._


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